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PWing - Landscaping
I went and bought some bulbs (I don't remember what I got, I've slept since then) and no-dig edging. I need to still get weed fabric (no, previous owners, trash bags don't work) and some mulch and I'm going to be tilling and planting this afternoon/evening while my MIL is having neck surgery - If I'm not productive, I will freak out.
I have one hosta in the yard that I think I might try and save, but I have others that are dying (because the previous owners, on top of using trash bags as landscaping fabric, planted 5 in a 6 foot box) so I'm not sure what to do. Do I try and find them (they're not grown up yet) and dig them up or do I wait awhile and see if they come up in a few weeks and then remove them? And how in the heck do you transplant a plant? It's moving all of 10 feet (at the most) and I've never done this crap before. I kill plants, so it's a good thing these puppies are outside getting rain.
TTC Baby #2 - BFP on 12/14/11 @ 10DPO - CP confirmed 12/18/11
BFP #2 on 1/13/12
Re: PWing - Landscaping
Hosta's are amazingly resilient. I can't even count how many times we've moved and re-planted hosta's in my yard.So, I would guess they are going to be fine and will grow again. If you can find them easily, I would try since you are going to be in the dirt anyways. If not, just wait a week or so. Ours are already coming up.
You need to dig the root ball up, just dig down so there is a decent amount of dirt around them. Hosta 's don't actually have very long roots.
I have never used weed fabric.
ETA: We actually have a root ball of hosta that we dug up last year and didn't actually plant back in the ground. They are growing now. I will run out at lunch and take a picture and post it for you.
Considering they're not dead, I figured they were pretty hardy lol. The other plants are all smaller and I figured they were on their way out since they aren't above ground yet. The only one I care to save is up, so I'll try and get it out. I'm only using the weed fabric because I don't care to do weeding. Hopefully it works well.
If I'm putting mulch up to the house, would you go with rubber? We already have ant problems, wood mulch would make it worse I'd think.
I need a landscaper lol.
TTC Baby #2 - BFP on 12/14/11 @ 10DPO - CP confirmed 12/18/11
BFP #2 on 1/13/12
Are your hostas out of the ground yet? Ours haven't broken the ground yet. Wait and transplant them when you know where they are. Simply dig out the whole clump of what you want to save/transplant and move. Hostas are one of the easiest plants to propagate and move.
What kind of bulbs are you planting at this time of year? Spring flowering bulbs should be planted in the fall. Summer flowering bulbs can be planted in the spring. If you plant spring flowering bulbs now it's OK but the critters have more time to eat them the longer they are in the ground.
You probably won't like this but I recommend not using any weed block fabric at all. You will only have to redo it in a few years. With simple mulch and newspaper underneath everything will decompose and enrich your soil (helping your plants) and you just have to do a minimal amount of weeding. A nice thick layer of mulch (about 3" is best). Then you add a little every year or two. Decomposing mulch over weed block = weed city in a 2-3 years and there is no benefit for your plants.
ETA: Rubber mulch is a bad product for around plants. It fries your plants and does not benefit the soil. There are many other types of natural mulch you can use besides wood chips. I've never heard of ants liking wood chips though. That is a whole separate issue you'll have to deal with. Rocks + weed fabric aren't any better either. We did that to our front bed right when we moved in the previous owners let the area go rampant. Two years later we tore it out and we're so happy we did. Leaves, tree debris, and dead leaves of the plants in the bed collect around the rocks and are hard/impossible to get out. Then they decay and create soil for weeds to grow in. The roots of the hostas and other plants would climb up onto the weed fabric and worms/bugs tunneled up around the edges bringing soil with them. I was amazed to see how much soil was able to collect on top of the fabric in just two years. No wonder we had to weed the area so much! Digging out all of the rocks was very, very hard labor and took us many back breaking days to do. When we finally got to tearing off the fabric we were surprised to find massive insect colonies living just under the fabric. The number of insects we have around that area has drastically decreased since we removed the fabric. Earwigs especially seemed to love the wet dark shelter the fabric provided.
By no means am I an expert landscaper, so if the weeding fabric works for you, do what you must. I just tried it once and it was more of a pain than not. Then I married a former landscaper, so he does all of that now. I just supervise.
I did ask H about the mulch, he said he doesn't think it would make much of a difference, but would recommend chemicals to get rid of the ants.
I hope this is helpful. Here is a pic of the root ball:
My husband is a landscaper, so hopefully I can help ya a bit.
For the hostas, yes, just use an edging shovel and kind of make a circle about 4" around the outside of the plant and maybe 8" deep....trying to keep most of the roots from being disrubted. Then just replant whereever you need them. Water them in the new area for the first couple days/week and they'll be fine. You could even give them some miracle grow if you really want to be sure they get a good start in their new home. Like pp mentioned though, they are very hardy plants. That's why you can split them and they do perfectly well! (Sounds like yours are a way away from this though!) Daylillies are also another super hardy plant like this...cheap, can be easily split, and can be moved very easily.
I also second the comment about no need for landscape fabric. Its very expensive and doesn't really work all that great. Hardy weeds will still get through. What I would suggest is just laying a really thick layer of mulch down, like a good 1.5"-2" deep...something like black gold is the best. The thick layer of mulch will supress the weeds and kill them and the black gold actually breaks down and makes the soil really rich for growing ladnscape plants and keeping them healthy.
As for the edging, I'd also nix that. I personally think it looks kind of cheap, but it also is very hard to keep looking nice, and easily chips when you use a weed whip around it each week. Just take (or buy if you don't already have one) and edging shovel (it's got a square like flat edge) and just trace around the bed, going down about 2-3", then tear away the edging. It makes a nice clean line and clean look that lasts!
Thanks gals! I don't have a lot of space between the ground and the vinyl siding of the house and the guy who treats our house for ants every year said not to mulch up to the house, so I'm not sure what to do there - do I buy some rock to edge that back side with? I'm all for avoiding rubber mulch since it's expensive lol. I don't remember what plants I bought off hand but they guide said to plant in March-April for my zone and they're not flowering since the front of our house is pretty shady.
If I skip the weed fabric, what do I put down between the dirt and mulch, nothing? I'm going to Lowes after I get done with work, so I'll be sure to ask them.
ETA: The one hosta is out of the ground, the rest that I am not really interested in saving aren't up yet. Once they are, I'll probably try and get them out for my MIL if she wants them.
I think I got everything? I'll probably edit again lol.
ETA (again): We do spray for ants yearly, but the area we live in is really bad for ants so we usually still deal with them (minimally) after we have the pest control guy spray. The previous owners did this:
That's trash bag, mulch, trash bag and rock on top. All this was removed and our ant problem has slightly improved, but it's still in the back yard (and I'm not going to be able to tackle that.
TTC Baby #2 - BFP on 12/14/11 @ 10DPO - CP confirmed 12/18/11
BFP #2 on 1/13/12
LOL! OMG what a mess! At least it looks like your rocks are contained by those trash bags and not imbedding in your yard like the one side of our house's landscaping was. And who the heck using trash bags?!
I think your pest guy is saying don't have your mulch high enough that it touches the siding. There should be a gap there to avoid lots of pests, not just ants. If your siding is very low just leave the back few inches free of any mulch. If weeds become a big issue back there you could cut weed fabric into 4" strips and lay two layers on top of each other back there. Then put the mulch over the open edge where the two meet. You'll have to fix it every year or two but it will be much easier to adjust/pull up if it's only a few inches wide and not cut out around plants.
My favorite thing to do when preparing a new bed is get a load of compost from the county (a whole trailer load for $5) and put a 2-3" layer of that down first. Then 3" of mulch. I like cedar because it lasts a long time. Then plant. Using that technique I've turned poor soil into nice soil in just 3 years. My plants do much better and I don't have to water them as much with the thick layer of mulch and moisture retention compost. You'll need to start out with a bed that is low enough to build all of that up though. So some digging might be needed. That's what we did with our front flower beds and I love the result!
For the most part, the rock/mulch/trash bag was contained by.. you guessed it, rotting wood timbers. Because it was also on top of the trash bags, which collected the rain water. People who use trash bags are the same kind of people who carve their names into the garage wall. Yes, that too.
There isn't a big gap between the ground and the vinyl, so I think I understand now. I can't do a lot of digging, so I was hoping to just go up, but I am planning on using a hand tiller to get the dirt all mixed up, so I can probably get something to mix into the dirt.
I love the hosta-rock bed that you had going on. I think here, especially with how hot it gets in the summer and how often we have no rain, it'd be easy for us to do. We got no snow this winter, so we're already in a drought and it's not even April yet.
What kind of mulch would you recommend? Are all mulches created equal?
I will have to post what it looks like when I get it done. My ideal edging would be some kind of stone, but we're already looking at new carpet for the entire house, plus new storm doors and if we sell for what the house appraised for (it dropped $4k this last year!
not sure why), plus commission for the realtor, we'll break even on what we owe on it. If we had a little bit more space (half bath, another bedroom) we'd consider staying put a little longer, but space is too cramped as it is.
TTC Baby #2 - BFP on 12/14/11 @ 10DPO - CP confirmed 12/18/11
BFP #2 on 1/13/12
So I would till in some compost. But note that tiling can lead to more weeds since many weeds produce seeds that can wait years to germinate. If you til the soil and now bring them to the surface where they get sun and water they will grow.
Yes the rocks and hostas looked nice but they were really a mess down at the landscape fabric layer like I described. Rocks and rubber reflect/absorb sun depending on the color which can fry your plants. They will need more watering to survive than if you just go with a wood chip mulch or the like.
There is no perfect mulch but like I said I like cedar because it holds up for a long time (less reapplying), benefits the soil when it does decompose, and looks good.
HTH
Thanks! I have to till because it's grown over with grass and I'm not sure I can be on my hands and knees tearing it out for that long. I'll get some cedar mulch and get at it this afternoon!
TTC Baby #2 - BFP on 12/14/11 @ 10DPO - CP confirmed 12/18/11
BFP #2 on 1/13/12
Once upon a time, it was lol, but that picture is probably 3 years old now. I had gone back and forth on keeping a bed there when I removed all that crap and I had decided, for awhile, to let the grass grow up. So we put down seed. Now, though, I'm taking the one out from in front of the porch and moving it over so that there's not a zig-zag to mow around and so that the landscaping can disguise a black line going into the house from the ground, I assume for cable but I don't know for sure what it's for.
TTC Baby #2 - BFP on 12/14/11 @ 10DPO - CP confirmed 12/18/11
BFP #2 on 1/13/12